{"id":90,"date":"2026-07-13T16:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/?p=90"},"modified":"2026-07-13T16:00:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:00:58","slug":"grave-new-world-live-strawbs-50-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/grave-new-world-live-strawbs-50-years-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Grave New World Live ~ Strawbs 50 Years On"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In marking the anniversary of the death of David Cousins on 13 July 2025, Witchwood Records is absolutely delighted to announce the release of the first recording from Strawbs 50th<\/sup>\u00a0Anniversary \u2013\u00a0Grave New World Live <\/i>on 9 October 2026. \u00a0It will be released as a limited pressing, just 1,000 for the world, gatefold LP with booklet \u2013 presented libretto-style, as was the original studio album. The album is the first of a series of recordings to be released from Strawbs 50th<\/sup>.\u00a0This release captures the only ever concert rendition of this landmark record.<\/p>\n

Probably, David\u2019s favourite song of all his songs was \u2018Benedictus\u2019, and the album he was most proud of was\u00a0Grave New World<\/i>. What he wanted to achieve at the 50th<\/sup>\u00a0Anniversary celebration was to tell the story through a live performance of\u00a0Grave New World<\/i>. This was, as we are sure you will agree, achieved in this live version, with the narration on which Wesley Stace and David Cousins collaborated. He had hoped that it would lead to a series of\u00a0Grave New World<\/i>\u00a0concerts, but this release now represents the only chance to hear the work rendered in the live setting.<\/p>\n

The record was produced by Larry Fast (Peter Gabriel, Foreigner, Nektar, Bonnie Tyler, and Hall & Oates), and mastered at Abbey Road by Geoff Pesche (New Order, Dire Straits, Gorillaz, Coldplay, Mike Oldfield and Kylie).<\/p>\n

\"\"Grave New World Live<\/i>, is a piece of audio history achieved through the talents of Larry Fast, in his post-production of the album, mixing the live multitrack recordings to both stereo and the vinyl LPs as well as to other and audio formats. It is unlike many other \u201clive\u201d albums, as the ethos behind the performance and production was dedicated to presenting the most honest and realistic reflection of the music on the night. Blue Weaver, in his studio, contributed additional post-production restorations for isolated song elements that hadn\u2019t been adequately captured on the day of the performance.<\/p>\n

The album brings you a faithful document of an historic performance by David Cousins and Strawbs, through the only, actual live performance, as played at the theatre in Lakewood, New Jersey on April 27, 2019. The performance brought together John Ford, Blue and David, who had all played on the original\u00a0Grave New World<\/i>\u00a0album in February 1972, together with the talents of Brian Willoughby, Cathryn Craig, Tony Fernandez and Eric Bazilian, and with Wesley Stace as Narrator.<\/p>\n

David\u2019s royalties resulting from this album will be given to the University of Leicester and Bangor University, in accordance with his wishes as expressed in his Will, to further the opportunities for musically talented young people.<\/p>\n

In appreciating\u00a0Grave New World Live<\/i>, we ask you to observe the request to the audience at its performance at the 50th<\/sup>\u00a0Anniversary, and to refrain from any applause until the end \u2013\u00a0\u201cThe Wanderer has far to go\u2026\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\"On
On stage at Grave New World Live. Photo by Matt Condon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In marking the anniversary of the death of David Cousins on 13 July 2025, Witchwood Records is absolutely delighted to announce the release of the first recording from Strawbs 50th\u00a0Anniversary \u2013\u00a0Grave New World Live on 9 October 2026. \u00a0It will be released as a limited pressing, just 1,000 for the world, gatefold LP with booklet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,20],"tags":[21,24,25,12,8,15,19],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-events","category-releases","tag-album","tag-blue-weaver","tag-brian-willoughby","tag-concert","tag-cousins","tag-strawbs","tag-witchwood-records"],"yoast_head":"\nGrave New World Live ~ Strawbs 50 Years On - Witchwood Records<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/grave-new-world-live-strawbs-50-years-on\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grave New World Live ~ Strawbs 50 Years On - Witchwood Records\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In marking the anniversary of the death of David Cousins on 13 July 2025, Witchwood Records is absolutely delighted to announce the release of the first recording from Strawbs 50th\u00a0Anniversary \u2013\u00a0Grave New World Live on 9 October 2026. \u00a0It will be released as a limited pressing, just 1,000 for the world, gatefold LP with booklet […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/grave-new-world-live-strawbs-50-years-on\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Witchwood Records\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-13T16:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-13T16:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/David-Cousins-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/grave-new-world-live-strawbs-50-years-on\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/grave-new-world-live-strawbs-50-years-on\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/#\/schema\/person\/46a307aadab85d20f9713453a4bb9bdc\"},\"headline\":\"Grave New World Live ~ Strawbs 50 Years On\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-13T16:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-13T16:00:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/grave-new-world-live-strawbs-50-years-on\/\"},\"wordCount\":499,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/grave-new-world-live-strawbs-50-years-on\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/David-Cousins-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Album\",\"Blue Weaver\",\"Brian Willoughby\",\"concert\",\"Cousins\",\"Strawbs\",\"Witchwood Records\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Live Events\",\"Releases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/grave-new-world-live-strawbs-50-years-on\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/witchwoodrecords.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/grave-new-world-live-strawbs-50-years-on\/\",\"name\":\"Grave New World Live ~ Strawbs 50 Years On - 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